Tuesday, April 22nd "2025" Daily Prep
Welcome to day 112, known as Earth Day, April Showers Day, National Jelly Bean Day. Your star sign is Taurus and your birthstone is Diamond.
1969 – English yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston sailed into Falmouth Harbour, completing the first non-stop solo voyage around the world. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
Todays birthdays
1937 – Jack Nicholson (88), American retired actor (Batman, The Shining, A Few Good Men), born in Neptune City, New Jersey, United States.
1950 – Peter Frampton (75), English guitarist, singer and songwriter (“Show Me the Way”), born in Bromley, Greater London.
1969 – Dion Dublin (56), English former professional footballer (Manchester United, Coventry City), television presenter (Homes Under the Hammer) and pundit, born in Leicester.
1969 – Craig Logan (56), Scottish musician and songwriter who began his career with Bros (“I Owe You Nothing”), born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland.
1984 – Amelle Berrabah (41), English singer and former member of the Sugababes (“Round Round”) replacing founding member Mutya Buena in 2005, born in Aldershot, Hampshire.
1984 – Michelle Ryan (41), English actress, best known for portraying the role of Zoe Slater in Eastenders, born in Enfield, North London.
1986 – Amber Heard (39), American actress (London Fields, Aquaman, Justice League, Drive Angry), born in Austin, Texas, United States.
1990 – Eve Muirhead (35), Scottish former curler and skip of the British Olympic Curling team (Olympic bronze 2014, Olympic champions 2022), born in Perth, Scotland.
Famous deaths
2023 – Len Goodman (b. 1944), English ballroom dancer and television personality (Strictly Come Dancing).
The day today
1915 – The German army used chlorine gas for the first time.
As expected by German chemists, the gas was highly effective in clearing out enemy trenches, and was used many times throughout the rest of the war.
1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
1945 – World War II – After learning that Soviet forces had taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admitted defeat in his underground bunker and stated that suicide was his only recourse.
1969 – English yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston sailed into Falmouth Harbour, completing the first non-stop solo voyage around the world. He was at sea for 312 days. His yacht was named Suhaili which means “good wind”. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
1972 – Sylvia Cook and John Fairfax became the first people to row across the Pacific Ocean (the world’s largest ocean). The journey took 363 days at sea from San Francisco to Australia.
1996 – Diana, Princess of Wales personally attended a five-hour heart transplant operation on a young boy at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex.
2000 – The Big Number Change took place. It was an update of telephone dialling codes in Britain in response to the rapid growth of telecommunications and the impending exhaustion of numbers.
2013 – Police confirmed that the search for missing five-year-old April Jones from Machynlleth, Powys had ended, after almost seven months of searching. Mark Bridger denied abducting and murdering April as well as intending to pervert the course of justice but was jailed on 30th May 2013.
Today in music
1965 – The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ticket To Ride.’ Taken from the film Help! it was the group’s seventh UK No.1.
1966 – ‘Wild Thing’ by The Troggs (who were originally called The Troglodytes) was released in the U.S. on both the Atco and Fontana labels. The song went on to reach No.1. Fronted by Reg Presley, ‘Wild Thing’ became a major influence on garage rock and punk rock.
1972 – Deep Purple scored their second UK No.1 album with Machine Head. The album which features ‘Smoke on the Water’ and ‘Highway Star’, is often cited as a major influence in the early development of the heavy metal music genre and commercially, it was Deep Purple’s most successful album.
1989 – Madonna started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Like A Prayer’, the singers seventh US No.1, also a No.1 in the UK.
2001 – Destiny’s Child went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Survivor.’ Their second chart topper, they were the first US female band to have more than one UK No.1. The song won the trio a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Group.
2007 – Beyoncé & Shakira were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Beautiful Liar’. The track won the Most Earth-Shattering Collaboration award at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards and the song won an Ivor Novello Award for Best-Selling British Song.
Today in history
1662 – King Charles II granted a charter to the Royal Society of London, which became an important centre of scientific activity in England.
1721 – HMS Seahorse infected with smallpox arrives in Boston harbor, causing the first outbreak in two decades. Half of the population catch it, causing 850 deaths.
1778 – James Hargreaves, the English inventor of the spinning jenny died. After he had begun to sell the machines to help support his large family. Hand spinners, fearing unemployment, broke into his house and destroyed a number of jennies, causing Hargreaves to move from Blackburn to Nottingham in 1768.
1834 – The South Atlantic island of St Helena was declared a British crown colony.
1838 – The British steamer Sirius became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to New York. The voyage took 18 days and 10 hours.
1884 – Englishman and General Laborer, Thomas Stevens started his first bicycle trip around the world on a Penny Farthing. The journey took two years and nine months.